Illinois Connection

Abbott has written a book about an Illinois subject of interest - the city of Chicago. Her book "Sin in the Second City" is based in Chicago and her research for the book was conducted in Chicago.

Biographical and Professional Information

Karen Abbott worked as a journalist in Philadelphia for several years. She then moved to Atlanta to pursue writing book-length narrative nonfiction. She now lives in New York. Since Abbott is not from Illinois but has written about an Illinois subject of interest, you will only find information about her book, ''Sin in the Second City'' here as it is about the city of Chicago. Additional information about Ms. Abbott and her other books can be found on her web page - [http://karenabbott.net/ http://karenabbott.net/].

Published Works

Sin in the Second City: Madams, Ministers, Playboys, and the Battle for America's Soul, Random House, 2008

American Rose: A Nation Laid Bare: The Life and Times of Gypsy Rose Lee, Random House, 2012

Selected Titles At Your Library

A vivid snapshot of America's journey from Victorian-era propriety to 20th-century modernity. Step into the perfumed parlors of the Everleigh Club, the most famous brothel in American history--and the catalyst for a culture war that rocked the nation. Operating in Chicago at the dawn of the 20th century, the Club welcomed moguls and actors, senators and athletes, foreign dignitaries and literary icons into a stately double mansion, and the Everleigh sisters treated their girls far better than most madams. But not everyone appreciated their attempts to elevate the industry. Their most daunting foes were the Progressive Era reformers, who sent the country into a frenzy with lurid tales of "white slavery"--The allegedly rampant practice of kidnapping young girls and forcing them into brothels. This furor shaped America's sexual culture and had repercussions all the way to the White House, including the formation of the FBI.--From publisher description.

The author of the acclaimed "New York Times" bestseller "Sin in the Second City" returns with the gripping and expansive story of America's coming-of-age--told through the extraordinary life of Gypsy Rose Lee and the world she survived and conquered.

After shooting a Union soldier in her front hall with a pocket pistol, Belle Boyd became a courier and spy for the Confederate army, using her charms to seduce men on both sides. Emma Edmonds cut off her hair and assumed the identity of a man to enlist as a Union private, witnessing the bloodiest battles of the Civil War. The beautiful widow, Rose O'Neale Greenhow, engaged in affairs with powerful Northern politicians to gather intelligence for the Confederacy, and used her young daughter to send information to Southern generals. Elizabeth Van Lew, a wealthy Richmond abolitionist, hid behind her proper Southern manners as she orchestrated a far-reaching espionage ring, right under the noses of suspicious rebel detectives. Using a wealth of primary source material and interviews with the spies' descendants, Abbott weaves the adventures of these four heroines throughout the tumultuous years of the war. With a cast of real-life characters including Walt Whitman, Nathaniel Hawthorne, General Stonewall Jackson, detective Allan Pinkerton, Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln, and Emperor Napoleon III, Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy draws you into the war as these daring women lived it.